Cold cases

As part of the national project with the Scripps Howard News Service, The Star looked at the number of murders that go unsolved in our communities, how law enforcement works to keep the trail from going cold, and how families cope with not knowing what happened to their loved one.

Barbara Serrano, 58, right, says her grandson Max Calvillo, 5, left, looks just like her late son Peter Serrano, 21, who was shot to death on the front porch of their Fillmore home in 2003. While friends of the young man have created a memorial to him at the entrance, Serrano has a shrine erected in his honor in their living room around a large statue of Jesus. “Nobody had the right to deny him his ambitions and his dreams,” Serrano says of her son. The killer remains at large.

Karen Quincy Loberg / Star staff

Peter Serrano, 21, was shot to death on the front porch of his family´s Fillmore home in 2003. The killer remains at large.

Karen Quincy Loberg / Star staff

Kristin Rogahn, forensic scientist with the Ventura County Sheriff´s Department, investigates the scene where a fatal stabbing occurred in 2008, accompanied by Sergeant Billy Hester, left, and detective Dave Brantley.

Chuck Kirman / Star staff

Kristin Rogahn, forensic scientist with the Ventura County Sheriff´s Department, investigates the scene where a fatal stabbing occurred in 2008, accompanied by Sergeant Billy Hester, center, and detective Dave Brantley.

Suzette Sanders, a forensic scientist, works under the microscope in the biology lab at the Ventura County Sheriff Department Forensic Crime Laboratory in the city of Ventura. The lab is kept extremely secure to assure accuracy of the team´s results.

Karen Quincy Loberg / Star staff

Keith Nakagawa, a forensic scientist, searches for data with the help of the computer at the Ventura County Sheriff Department Forensic Crime Laboratory in the city of Ventura.

Karen Quincy Loberg / Star staff

Sandy Montes-Cerna places a yellow rose where as her nephew, Carlos Prado, was gunned down four years ago. Prado was 19 years old and was going home from his girlfriend´s house. He was shot once in the head at about 10:30 p.m.

Juan Carlo / Star staff

Sandy Montes-Cerna places a yellow rose where as her nephew, Carlos Prado, was gunned down four years ago. Prado was 19 years old and was going home from his girlfriend´s house. He was shot once in the head at about 10:30 p.m.

Juan Carlo / Star staff

Detective Dave Brantley of the Ventura County Sheriff´s Department homicide unit looks at a map that shows where a fatal stabbing occurred in 2008.

Chuck Kirman / Star staff

Detective Dave Brantley, left, Sergeant Billy Hester and Kristin Rogahn, forensic scientist with the Ventura County Sheriff´s Department, walk to the scene at the end of a driveway where a fatal stabbing occurred in 2008.

Chuck Kirman / Star staff

Edwin Jones, Jr., works on what he describes as one of the ugliest crimes he´s examined in his career as a forensic scientist with Ventura County Sheriff Department Forensic Crime Laboratory in the city of Ventura.

Karen Quincy Loberg / Star staff

Jeanine Aguirre, a forensic scientist who started with the crime lab ten years ago, separates epithelial cells from sperm cells during rape case sperm identification training. Aguirre is part of the work force at the Ventura County Sheriff Department Forensic Crime Laboratory in the city of Ventura.

Karen Quincy Loberg / Star staff

Sergeant Billy Hester, left, talks with his partner, detective Dave Brantley, both with the Ventura County Sheriff´s Department homicide unit, at the scene of a fatal stabbing that occurred in 2008.

Chuck Kirman / Star staff

Kristin Rogahn, forensic scientist with the Ventura County Sheriff´s Department, talks with Sergeant Billy Hester, center, and detective Dave Brantley at the scene of a fatal stabbing that occurred in 2008.

Chuck Kirman / Star staff

Jeanine Aguirre, a forensic scientist who started with the crime lab ten years ago, separates epithelial cells from sperm cells during rape case sperm identification training. Aguirre is part of the work force at the Ventura County Sheriff Department Forensic Crime Laboratory in the city of Ventura.

Karen Quincy Loberg / Star staff

Kristin Rogahn, forensic scientist with the Ventura County Sheriff´s Department, investigates the scene where a fatal stabbing occurred in 2008, accompanied by Sergeant Billy Hester, left, and detective Dave Brantley.